The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

210 WASHINGTON'S WRITINGS. [ALET. 24.
fear the provisions purchased for the support of these
forts, and now lying in bulk, will be wasted and destroyed, notwithstanding I have given directions to the
assistant commissary on the Branch, and to Waggener's
company, to use their utmost diligence in collecting the
whole, and securing them where his company is posted.
An escort, with all the flour we have been able to procure (amounting to an insufficient quantity for want of
water), will set out from this place on Tuesday next.
I expect to depart sooner myself, leaving directions with
Captain Mercer, whom I have appointed to command
here, and I shall repair as expeditiously as possible to
Fort Cumberland.
I am a little at a loss to understand the meaning of
your orders, and the opinion of the Council, when I am
directed to evacuate all the stockade forts, and at the
same time to march only one hundred men to Fort
Cumberland, and to continue the like. number here to
garrison Fort Loudoun. If the stockade forts are all
abandoned, there will be more men than are required
for these two purposes, and the communication between
them, of near eighty miles, will be left without a settler,
unguarded and exposed. ABut I mean nothing more by
this intimation, than to ascertain your intentions, to which
I would willingly pay strict obedience.*
* It is no wonder, that Colonel Washington should complain, as he often
did, of the confusion and inconsistency of his orders. In the present case,
the Governor first ordered him to march from Fort Loudoun to Fort Cumberland more men than he had under his command at the former post, and
still to leave a number sufficient to keep up the garrison, and continue the
works. When this order was countermanded as absurd and impracticable,
another was issued for calling in all the men at the stockade forts, sending
one hundred to Fort Cumberland, and retaining the same number at Fort
Loudoun, by which means the smaller forts, essential for the defence of
the people, would be evacuated, and a large number of men left unemployed. A third order.was necessary to remedy the blunders of the other
two, by entrusting the matter to the discretion of the Commander-in-chief.